Peru - Detectives working from the Indiana State Police Peru Post warn Hoosiers to be aware of a scam which occurred in north central Indiana that cost a Miami County woman $2,200.

The scam started when the woman was called, unsolicited, and advised she had won a large sum of money and a new car. The caller indicated the lady was automatically entered into a drawing because she had previously used a debit or credit card. The caller indicated the woman had initially won the contest in November but the contest host was not able to contact her. Due to victim not being contacted in November, the caller said the winning car had to be placed in storage. The caller said it would cost the victim $2,200 to get the car out of storage.

The victim was advised to purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak card from an area retailer. She was told to place $2,200 on the card to pay the supposed storage fee. The victim then called the scammer with the card number, allowing the scammer access to the posted funds. The scammer told the victim that car and cash would be delivered to her residence.

Of course no car or cash was delivered. The scammer made repeated calls to the victim with different excuses on why the alleged prizes were not delivered. The scammer even had someone call the victim pretending to be an Indiana police officer. The fake officer told the victim he had stopped the car she had supposedly won. The fake officer said the car contained a large sum of money and he was calling to verify that the car and cash were not part of an illegal drug operation. All indications are there was no car, cash, or contest. Also, police officers do not call citizens asking for them to verify that they are not part of a criminal enterprise.

The Indiana State Police is investigating this case, but recovering funds from scams like this have proven difficult in the past. A large percentage of these scams originate outside of the United States.

Hoosiers are reminded:

Always be cautious of anyone contacting you unsolicited, either by phone or internet. Think scam!

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Have a good phone number for your bank and credit cards that you can call with questions.

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